From Sweets to Science
From Sweets to Science The Transformation of 250 Massachusetts Avenue 2 From Sweets to Science Transforming an almost 80-year-old candy factory into a state-of-the-art laboratory to enable, stimulate, and excite world-class scientists to research and discover innovative drugs, took the dedication, creativity, and inexhaustible energy of hundreds of people. The former candy factory owned and operated by the New England Confectionery Company (NECCO), at 250 Massachusetts Avenue, was identified as the headquarters of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) in August 2002. Novartis communicated to an experienced team of architects and designers at The Stubbins Associates, Inc., the need to “invent” an interior environment that would encourage, foster, and facilitate collaboration and the exchange of ideas and knowledge between scientists. To operate as an efficient and productive organization, the building would have to: • Emphasize openness and transparency • Promote informal social interaction • Integrate interacting scientific disciplines • Make an efficient use of space • Energize the scientists The architects and designers planned a renovation that set new standards of laboratory design. John Moriarty & Associates, Inc. was contracted to do the job, and they fulfilled their task on budget and in record time. The NIBR global headquarters has been occupied and operational since April 2004. From Sweets to Science 1 History of 250 Massachusetts Avenue Until the middle of the 19th century, the land the former NECCO building occupies was tidal marsh. In 1853, railroad tracks were laid, and in 1890, Massachusetts Avenue was FACT: constructed, spurring commercial development. 2,000 miles of telephone and data cables The former NECCO building and its accompanying buildings were completed and occupied installed in 1927 and became the world headquarters for NECCO.
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